The Art of Getting By
CHAPTER FOUR

❛ Goddess of The Night. ❜

8:40 PM
September 2021
HYOSAN HIGH SCHOOL

MOON EUN-BYEOL RULED the night, and the day ruled her; she was the embodiment of the primordial Goddess of the Night herself. A muted, mellow hum resounded from the strings of her guitar.

Settled on top of her ears were rounded head phones, the thin metal wire wrapped her scalp as her mixtape blasted itself through the speakers. Flowing under the headset was her shadowy, dark hair, a resemblance of the palettes of black that the sky paints at night. Half of it was tied up in a bun by a wooden pencil.

Slipping the headset off, so that it was snaked around her neck, the melodies that flurried from it could still be heard from three feet away. With the tip of her left foot, she tapped it against the sage green floor, it drummed alongside the strong rhythmic pulse of the music blaring through her headphones.

Take me to your paradise. Heaven's Door is closed-

"Aish shibal-" Not quite mellifluously, a curse laced her voice as an emphatic sigh breezily left her chiffon rose lips. Despite the volume of her music being heightened, she could still feel and hear the slip of her fingers from the board of her guitar, breaking the smooth sound of a chord. "Fuck whoever created the F chord."

She'd been at it for as long as the foggy grey moon imprinted itself within the dusky canvas of black outside; the moon's pearly cool colours reigned the heavens for as long as Moon Eun-Byeol learnt her guitar piece.

It almost drove her insane, Hyosan High School could very well be the definition of irritation when it came to musical shows. Moon Eun-Byeol appreciated them shedding a limelight on her exceptional musical skills. But when they informed her on a music show at such short notice, she felt as though the school would be the reason why her hair turns into a similar palette as the moon. Falcon grey, a colour mirroring a knights armour- from the roots to the tips of her pin-straight hair.

But, of course Moon Eun-Byeol couldn't say no. She had to appease the public, their expectations and match the images they had of her.

She was JA's daughter for Earth's sake.

Ding!-

Finally, an excuse to pull her away from unnecessary exertion. Moon Eun-Byeol could've been studying for her physics exam on astronomy and the celestial discoveries Galileo Galilei made with his telescope. She could be naming various heavenly planets with her home made flashcards. But, of course, she could not. Hyosan High School burdened her with a performance at the Summer Concert.

Lee Han-eul: 'UNNIE IT'S HAE-BOM!!!!' (1 Attatchment.)

A softened grin broke through the Moon girl's light thulian pink lips, one that corresponded purely with the shades of blossom pink on her cheeks, which contrasted with the darkening sky outside. With her thumb, she pressed on the attachment that her younger sister linked with her message.

"SHHH don't tell him but . . . I stole Oppa's phone- oh! And don't forget to be careful of the ghost that Oppa told us about." The cheery voice belonged to none other that Moon Hae-Bom, a toothy grin spread across her cherubic face, one that was illuminated by the bumblebee yellow lights. Shiny, smooth sauce from the yukgaejang painted the sides of her lips, and some patterned her small cheeks, Eun-Byeol could see Cheong-san's mother snatch a tissue from the box of napkins and wiped away the sauce that tainted the young archer's skin. "I SCORED A RED RING TODAY TOO!"

Thin sheets of tears glassed Eun-Byeol's eyes, her pulse hastening with pride.

"Hey Fried Chicken stealer, I think you'll be the sole reason why I'll be losing my hearing tonight-"

"Are you recording a video?"

Moon Hae-Bom's sunny grin only expanded, causing the irises of her eyes to glimmer, almost as bright as the resting sun that opposed the moon. "Mhm! Eomeoni, tell my Unnie to arrive at the restaurant quickly- you have more yukgaejang right?"

When the young Moon girl shoved Lee Han-eul's phone in the wiser woman's face, a startled hearty chuckle freed from her lips, she inclined her head enthusiastically. "That's correct, I'll always have yukgaejang and fried chicken ready for you. Eun-Byeol-ah, practising music will impact you greatly, but taking a break will also impact you in a far greater way. I'll be the reason why you won't skip any meals, okay?-"

Moon Eun-Byeol could feel a gentle, yet agonisingly sweet wave spread across her chest.

"Omma, that was way too cheesy." Moon Eun-Byeol heard Lee Cheong-san say.

"You remember that too Cheong-san-ah. I know you try to study hard, but-"

"Okay Omma, I've heard enough," you could see the youngest Lee boy sink deeper into his wooden chair, the regular colour of his cheeks concealed by a harsh shade of red, a giveaway to how bashful he was.

"You're going red Lee Cheong-san-"

"Shut up gopher."

Hidden behind Moon Hae-Bom's midnight tresses, you could catch a glimpse of Lee Han-eul who owned a distant gaze, one that was captured faintly. A faded, faraway emotion was illustrated across his face, as if his exterior state was the only thing present, his soul elsewhere, as his eyes lingered on both Lee Cheong-san and his mother.

Perhaps, it was time to leave Hyosan High School for the evening- there was no reason to stay for the entire night.

The comfort of her own warm abode caused her pulse to dance, it put her heart at ease. Something about the cracks that meandered across the roughly painted, white, bricked walls, with climbing vines and the lavender smell that lingered around the house brought Moon Eun-Byeol great cheer.

It was her home after all; nothing beats the happiness that's created from the comforts of one's own home.

But of course, she had to make a quick stop at Cheong-san's Fried Chicken before making a journey back home. It's been a while since she had a proper conversation with the owners of the restaurant.

Unable to stand the uncomfortable wooden chairs of Hyosan High School any longer, especially since she felt her muscles tighten and grow numb from the rock solid surface, her thumbs tapped away at the digital, luminous screen of her phone.

Moon Eun-Byeol: "I'll be congratulating you in person Hae-Hae! I'll be there in a few, don't eat all of the fried chicken~ Save some for me!'

The brunette clicked send, her message delivering.

Surveying the fern green music room, one that was usually lime green, but due to the darkened shades that covered the windows, it caused the room to appear like an otherworldly universe. Moon Eun-Byeol's eyes scanned the piano in the corner of the room, one that had its lid open, the ebony keys caught on to some of the moon's light, to the disorganised chairs, ones that were used by the choir earlier on.

Other than that, everything was still in its place, the exact same as it was during the day.

The school always appeared different during night time. The way it was shaded by the coruscating palettes of the night, it invited all sorts of eery feelings, but it also invited tranquility. Moon Eun-Byeol's prussian blue Converses, the colour of the deeper depths of the ocean and the inner stretch of a nights sky, echoed around the hollow hallways. So did the dulcet music that flowed through the speakers of her headphones.

Starry Night. Kiss me in the blue moonlight.

Nyx, the Goddess of night, was the paintbrush for painting on top of a canvas of pale blue, the colours of day. Birthed in the heart of Gaia, she grew up with a pair of opalescent, black wings, they stretched out from the East and to the West. They towered so high that they shadowed her frame, making her blend into the comforting colours of the night.

As if Nyx was peering into a river, Moon Eun-Byeol was the sole reflection of her.

She too had metaphorical wings, ones that were rooted within the bones of her back, ones that casted shadows upon Moon Eun-Byeol's inner self. For, her exterior frame was all the public could see. They created opinions about Moon Eun-Byeol, believing that they knew everything about her.

But they only knew about her exterior state.

Not her inner soul, the one that was concealed by the darkness of her midnight wings.

Take it out soon. Take me away. My hope in hell.

Reaching the bottom of the stairway, the rail sat coldly beneath her fingers, her ears grew sensitive to the lack of noise surrounding her, only the hushed sounds of the night accompanied the girl.

Only a few yards away and then she'll reach the entrance of Hyosan High School.

Wrapping her fingers tighter around the straps of her guitar case, she tucked her carnation pink, bottom lip under her top teeth. "Right Moon Eun-Byeol, you are no wuss. Ghosts should be scared of you, not the other way around . . ." Taking a few moments to let out an airy sigh, she then shook her head gingerly, "wait what- the stupid story isn't real. What the heck am I talking about?"

It wasn't that Moon Eun-Byeol believed the ridiculous rumours of the Crying Ghost Girl. Lee Han-eul had informed the Moon girl about the innovative story of the female ghost: a ghost that roamed around the hallways as soon night fell.

Apparently, an illuminating silhouette that was dressed in a nightgown, and draped in the balmy beams of the grey moon, wandered around the hallways of Hyosan High School. She wept and wept for the her certificate of graduation. For apparently, the ghost deceased the day before she even got the chance to graduate.

Moon Eun-Byeol thought that it was simply tragic. A pathetic sob story to stop students from staying at school past opening hours.

"There's no way someone can believe such a plain and boring story- I mean, if you're gonna make up a story like that, at least add a bit of suspense, like come one, died before graduation? Nothings more uncreative than that."

"Why don't you come up with something to spread then? If you think you are so holier-than-thou-"

"Okay . . . uh . . . what about a meteorite exploding on Earth and she dies whilst trying to save her friends and family- I don't know, something more heroic. What do you think?"

"You know what I think Eun-ah? You've been watching too many movies- You should study that much instead."

That was the conversation Moon Eun-Byeol and Lee Han-eul had about the Crying Ghost Girl. As an ex-Hyosan High School student, Lee Han-eul had to do the honors of passing it down to Moon Eun-Byeol, who was a Freshman at the time.

Clang-

Eun-Byeol's shoulder's flinched greatly, so greatly that the instrument within her guitar case collided against the walls of its case loudly. "Aish shibal- why am I getting so worked up? I've never even seen the ghost before- Let alone seen any evidence of it."

Moon Eun-Byeol refused to believe it until she'd actually seen it.

A faraway sound of glass rolling against cold tiles rattled through Moon Eun-Byeol's eardrums. To her guesses, she thought that it might have been one of the lab rats knocking over a test tube.

Hang on, why would the lab rats be free from their cages?

Open the door of Heaven let me. Can we walk over the clouds?

The soft hum of her music was the only thing that kept her grounded.

Another sound chorused with the deadly silence that blanketed Hyosan High School. Was it someone weeping? It was arduous to tell- for it seemed muffled.

"Okay there's no way- no . . . way-"

There was no sight of a lone, transparent figure floating around the hallways. Only the darkness of the night greeted Moon Eun-Byeol's presence.

She tightened her grip around the straps of her guitar case once more.

"What are you doing?"

A heartbeat.

Moon Eun-Byeol swallowed so gingerly, that her spit went down the wrong pipe- spluttering with her palms clasped around her knees for a brief moment, she spun around on her heels to face the owner of the voice.

It belonged to Lee Byeong-chan.

"Oh Leeseonsaengnim!"

Moon Eun-Byeol half bowed as a sign of respect.

The steel blue hues of the school returned to a warm berry blue as Moon Eun-Byeol felt her nerves quieten, the sweat clinging on to her palms thinning. A lengthy exhale tumbled from her mouth, as a twinkle of relief drenched her state. "I almost thought you'd proven the story of the Crying Ghost Girl to be true," doubling over whilst patting her chest to reduce her beating heart rate, she blinked several times, even finding a slither of tears trail down her cheeks from the fright.

Still, Lee Byeong-chan remained unmoving, his limbs tense.

"You know . . . the stupid rumours the others have made, you know? The girl who died and then became a ghost to haunt the school- I know, it's pretty lame, I bet I could come up with something far greater than that."

Baring her teeth, in a way that seemed like a cringeworthy smile, since, she was humiliated from her pointless fears, she rolled her shoulders back.

Not a word fell from Lee Byeong-chan's ruler straight lips.

The silky blue atmosphere grew colder, the sky seemed to darken. A torrid shade of carmine red splattered across Moon Eun-Byeol's cheeks, she felt foolish for spewing such a ridiculous rumour to her physics teacher.

"Well there goes my A in my physics test tomorrow," Moon Eun-Byeol murmured to none other soul, but herself. Scorning at herself by peering to the side, she squeezed her almond coloured eyes shut, before returning her wavering gaze. But as soon as she laid her eyes on to her physics teacher once again, the muscles of her face began to droop down. "Oh- oh wait-"

Dang it why am I so inconsiderate?

There was a more severe rumour that was verified to be true, and Moon Eun-Byeol had recklessly and mindlessly discarded it in front of Lee Jin-su's own father.

Moon Eun-Byeol only had one memory of Lee Jin-su.

Back in Kindergarten, Moon Eun-Byeol went on an educational trip to the zoo. Lee Jin-su had no partner, so he tagged around with Eun-Byeol's group the entire time.

The main fact she could recall, was that he was passionate about seeing the bluebirds. But he didn't speak much after the trip, and eventually they all drifted apart. Moon Eun-Byeol hadn't expected them to drift so far from each other.

A sullen expression graved Moon Eun-Byeol's face.

"I'm sorry for my disrespectfulness," she half bowed once again, "how have you been Leeseonsaengnim?"

A grey pigment seemed to paint Lee Byeong-chan's skin, Eun-Byeol only assumed that it was caused by the loss of his son, which her chest ached from the familiar situation of it all. Everyone mourns differently, every death is contrasted from one another. But, when it comes to a loved one, Moon Eun-Byeol knew the stages all too well.

"Oh . . ." He nodded to himself, not to agree, but, as if he were agreeing to another thought that sprang within his reserved mind. "I've been busy," his voice fell gruff, as if from fatigue, Lee Byeong-chan's face paled, but this time, not with grief. "I've been doing fine."

Only a supportive smile blanketed Moon Eun-Byeol's cerise lips, like the first star in the sky that glistens as soon as night falls, a gift for the souls below to be guided through the darkness.

Moon Eun-Byeol knew how difficult it was to converse about death.

"It's okay to cry, to be angry, don't hold everything inside." She paused. He only stood still with a slither of an appreciative expression on his face. An idea planted itself within Eun-Byeol's mind, "well, I'm heading towards Cheong-san's Fried Chicken. Would you like to join?"

Nothing but silence followed after.

"No, I have to clean up the silence labs." The simple response was the physic's teacher's immediate reply.

"Oh, okay."

Feeling a weighty load of awkwardness pile up on top of her shoulders, it was as if the entire Solar system was settled on them, Moon Eun-Byeol let go of another breath.

After all the tension, she had forgotten to breathe.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale-

Moon Eun-Byeol wrinkled her nose.

Stinging at her senses, was an utterly foul stench. It reminded her of the landfill she visited on an educational school trip she went to at one point. The pure air was murdered by a nauseating smell. The sky was hazy, almost like fumes of clouds, if you looked closely, the smoke was not grey, but it had tinges of mustard yellow. The smell was much worse than left over egg fried rice from three months ago, her mind bellowed.

Swallowing a breath, Moon Eun-Byeol forced a rocky grin upon her frowning lips, the corners of her mouth begging to fall downwards. "I . . . I could help you. I can help you, I mean. You go home, don't exert yourself Leeseonsaengnim. It has only been a few days since . . ."

"No."

"But I insist Leeseonsaengnim! I've already had a meal before I arrived here. I'll be alright. You go on and have dinner, your wife must be awaiting for you at home. You should be there for her too."

At this, the mousy stature of Lee Byeong-chan grew as his feet shuffled, decreasing the distance between them. The lines on his stiff expression seemed to deepen. The midnight shadows that were casted upon his expression began to dissipate as the silent, dagger like beams of the moon, spat onto Lee Byeong-chan's face.

Thus, revealing the hazardous gleam that slept within his enlarged pupils.

"Go home. You have a physics assessment tomorrow. You don't want to fail, do you?"

"Leeseonsaengnim!" The only exuberant element to the evening was Moon Eun-Byeol's naïve chuckles. "Have a little faith in me! I'm more than prepared for the exam," placing an arm against the polished, garden walnut coloured door, she elevated her chin, "what I know for sure is that Galileo did not invent the telescope. You can count on me with that fact."

That fact could be classed as the level before foundation. Everyone knows that Galileo Galilei did not invent the telescope.

Leaning all her weight against the silence lab door, it swung open, welcoming Moon Eun-Byeol into a void of darkness.

The day you're trapped. Save me tight.

The repugnant, absolutely distasteful malodour, only grew as Moon Eun-Byeol felt herself being enclosed within the science lab. But, it wasn't just the smell of something decaying, but it also smelt like someone tried to mask it all with a weak cologne.

The inner sides of her cheeks stung as her teeth clenched onto the skin tightly, her teeth scraping against them with force as she tried casing her blooming fears. Her skull seemed to feel like it was afloat, or swimming around within a thick sea of conflict, like an ocean. It was as if her body was growing agitated by the repulsive smell, it was reacting to it greatly.

Unzipping her school bag, she reached for her bottle of water, in efforts to try and lodge the bile that dared to arise in her throat. Slamming the bottle down onto a counter, she tried catching a steadied breath, before scanning the vast classroom.

It was spotless.

The chairs were neatly placed behind the dove white tables. They were untouched, Eun-Byeol wouldn't be surprised if there weren't any fingerprints on the furniture if you scanned the surfaces through a detector.

Everything was pristine.

"Uh Leeseonsaengnim? Should I just sanitise the area instead? Everything's already been put back into place."

No answer.

Popping her head around the entrance of the class room, where the door was still ajar, her puzzled, cinnamon coloured eyes were only met with the open space of the hallway. As if a boulder was sinking into the bottomless sea, Moon Eun-Byeol's pulse fluctuated immensely.

"I assume that you're on your way home then," she called out to nothing but the spirits of the night. ". . . I only wish nothing but peace for you and your family."

Stretching out her limbs, ones that were benumbed from the unnecessary fright and from leaning over her coral white guitar for a long period of time, a thunderous yawn broke through her lips. The darkness invited her once again, when her oceanic blue Converses skipped into the classroom.

"It's just you and I, Saem," the Moon girl faced the faux skeleton in the corner of the classroom, one that was used during the early stages of her academic year. The fake ivory coloured bones glimmered under the lighter hues of the night, that seeped through the blinds of the windows.

Its face smiled back at Moon Eun-Byeol, as it always did, since it was manufactured that way.

Clatter.

Moon Eun-Byeol paused.

The sound of weeping commenced again. But, this time it was stronger.

Moon Eun-Byeol's cottony pink lips quivered.

The evidence for the Crying Ghost Girl was growing by the minute.

But it wasn't just the myth that caused her senses to be sensitive, it was the strange chill that lingered in the air. Nothing seemed right. The shrill intakes of oxygen that Moon Eun-Byeol took, felt as though they were balancing between her lungs and throat.

A forbidding amount of coldness painted across the tips of her fingers, the same exact feeling as to when you place your palm on the surface of an icy, condensed window after it's been snowing outside- her palms trembled uncontrollably.

With a strained effort, her fingers grew robust as she dialled Moon Ji-hun's number.

No-one picked up.

She tried again.

Voicemail.

She tried again.

No avail.

A strong sense of aggravation surged through Moon Eun-Byeol's veins as she clutched the bridge of her nose, and glowered at the phone as if it were at fault, "why did I even bother, I should've known."

He's probably busied with work- Moon Eun-Byeol tried convincing herself, as per usual.

A distant ticking of a pair of clock handles could be heard, it echoed around the empty classroom.

"Jang Wu-Jin."

Her mind spoke, the name appearing bespangled from the way it flowed breezily from her petite, french rose coloured lips. Jang Wu-Jin was a person she counted on right then, and she hankered for a place other than Hyosan High School- Hyosan's Strawberry Bakery appeared celestial within those moments of standing in the eery science lab.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

At that, Moon Eun-Byeol finally flinched at the noise that kept arising. She almost stumbled backwards from tripping over her own feet, her back collided against the cabinets that were lined up against the wall to the storage room.

Just as her finger pressed on a contact, a conical flask teetered and crashed against the tiled flooring, the opalescent blue glass shards greeted her shoes. The sharp points glinted within her eyesight as she let out a suppressed yelp- "Great . . . just great. I just love finding more work for myself don't I?" She just needed a pan and brush. Then it'll all be clean. As if she never dropped it. "Good plan Eun-Byeol," she nodded to herself.

Clang. Clang. Clang-

Moon Eun-Byeol snapped her head upwards at the repetitive racket. Her enlarged eyes landed on her reflection, that illustrated itself upon the storage room window. Her own pair of faded, dark eyes stared back at her; she squinted.

The blood that rushed through her veins seemed to be put on a pause. The straps of her hefty guitar case, and loaded school bag, fell from her shoulders and thudded heavily next to her ankles. It was as if a hand had seized her heart, causing it to stop pumping as her jaw fell agape, abruptly.

". . . Hey Moon Eun-Byeol, miss me already? I'm almost at Cheong-san Fried Chicken. Hae-Bom texted me through Lee Han-eul's phone. Don't walk, it's raining outside, so get a taxi . . ." A pause. "Eun-Byeol?" The receiver's voice resounded around the thin walls of the science lab, and almost sounded muffled against Eun-Byeol's ears, as the only thing she could really hear during those moments, was the thumping of her own pulse-

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

Clang-

Her phone had toppled through the gaps of her fingers, like sand falling through a glass sand timer, across the tiled flooring, and reverberated against a gunmetal grey chair leg.

Moon Eun-Byeol had her broadened eyes cemented on what laid behind the window, that separated the storage room from the teaching space. The shadows no longer seemed like a fond companion. Her surroundings seemed unfamiliar.

It was just the baleful blue night, Moon Eun-Byeol, and the ruddied, distorted figure, that was within the room that housed the school's scientific equipment.

"Moon Eun-Byeol? Are you still there?" A breezy chuckle followed after; Jang Wu-Jin continued obliviously.

"Hyun . . . Joo?"

Both of her stone cold palms were pressed against her parted ash pink lips as they vanquished the cries that tried to force out of her mouth. All that Moon Eun-Byeol could witness, from under the intense, razor-sharp moonlight, was the sickly, merlot blood that bedecked her foe's uniform and the maroon blood that grimed her skin-

Footsteps.

"I'm sorry about this." A sandy tone immersed from Hyosan High School's finest science teacher, a reputation that was to be tainted by the hands of fate and Moon Eun-Byeol's new found knowledge.

Metal against flesh, the peak of the thin, gunpowder grey needle submerged into Eun-Byeol's cool skin. "Leeseonsaengnim?-" A dazed puzzlement bled through Moon Eun-Byeol's stunned expression, when her blurred vision consisted of a ghostly grey face- one that belonged to her sinful science teacher. "Why . . . why're you . . ."

Whatever substance was swimming around within the injection, didn't seem like enough to drench Moon Eun-Byeol's soul with fatigue.

Moon Eun-Byeol was a strong fighter- and Lee Byeong-Chan could see the evidence of it, through how abruptly she stood up to retrieve her phone.

A thunderous baying toppled from her bared teeth as she felt a thick, rough material collide against the back of her skull. Her headset flew across the room, smacking against a table leg. Sneakers sliding backwards, her shins and knees collapsed from the force, a shuttle speed of numbness spread across her forearm as the side of her shoulder slapped onto the ground.

Thud.

Through a hazy glance, her vision morphed from a pixelated onyx black, and slowly, to the colour of her regular surroundings. Her eyes fell on to the object that Lee Byeong-Chan had used to knock her out: a hefty telescope. The white paint that was glossed across the surface of it, was now impure from the blood that seeped ever so tinily from the back of Eun-Byeol's head.

"Eun-Byeol?- Are you okay? What was that?" Jang Wu-Jin elevated his sound, as if it could increase the tiny volume on Moon Eun-Byeol's phone.

Agonised tears impermanently scarred her cheeks as she rolled, rockily, onto her back. Both her slippery palms latched on to the arm of the telescope, when Lee Byeong-Chan lowered it to knock her out again, the surface still cold from the night.

Whirlpools of torture swam around within Moon Eun-Byeol's pupils, as she felt dots of carmine blood ooze from her wound. All she could see was a pair of obsidian, black eyes, that were fixated on her weary, red-rimmed ones. They were the only deathly thing Moon Eun-Byeol could see, since the night eclipsed over them.

"I know that I said you can be angry, but please . . . project it onto something else- Don't," sweat brushed through her hair as she pressed her lips firmly together, "don't let it out on us. I can promise you that regret will be a far greater pain than the one you're experiencing now."

Lee Byeong-Chan never blinked. "I'll regret it if you rat me out to the police. That monster in the storage room will kill all of us. We'll die. Do you understand me?"

"I don't know what Hyun-Joo did to upset you, but you doing this won't make you any better than her Leeseonsaengnim-" Moon Eun-Byeol struggled, as the metal pole of the telescope drew closer towards her neck, her back digging into some of the glass shards that littered the floor.

A wince contorted her already troubled expression.

A part of Moon Eun-Byeol did not know why she defended her foe, but no-one should ever experience such a damaging situation as this. Sure, vengeance tasted like a harmonious amount of glee against her tongue, but it didn't mean that Eun-Byeol wanted any harm done towards Hyun-Joo.

"Hyun-Joo is long gone. That monster in there, is not human. I'm doing all of us a favour. I can't trust that you'll keep this a secret. So, I'm sorry-"

Raising his arms, with the limbs of the telescope within his fingers, in a swish, he thrusted it down again, to try and make the girl unconscious once again-

Clang.

"- No," Moon Eun-Byeol's sore, yet brawny hands clasped onto the telescope once again, but this time she yanked it away. It hobbled across the hallway. "I'm beginning to think that the monster here isn't Hyun-Joo anymore-"

Peeking through multiple strands of unkempt, madeira-brown hair, that shaded a side of her face, Moon Eun-Byeol slammed a hand onto the side cabinet for security. Her legs almost fell limp as she hoisted her frame upwards, and onto both her feet. She was only a few feet taller than the brutal teacher, which made her feel like she was more in control.

She levelled her chin higher as her blue Converses slid around the glass embellished ground. Her back pressed against the corner of the wall when her vision continued to blur. It seemed like the substance within the injection, was beginning to kick in.

"I really don't mean to harm you, but you shouldn't have insisted when I told you to go home. I'm sorry."

Click.

With a hand unlocking the gravel coloured door, Lee Byeong-Chan uncovered the barrier between his secrets and the ordinary classroom.

In the spur of a moment, when Moon Eun-Byeol flickered her eyes on to her robust phone, that was on the other side of the classroom, a brute like force flurried through Lee Byeong-Chan's arm as he shoved her entire body into the darkness of the storage room.

A bellow hurtled through her vermillion, blood coated lips at the wicked force. Her spine seemingly intact, even from the cruel impacts. Scrunching up the bridge of her nose, she bared her winter white teeth from the sizzling sensation that that benumbed the entirety of her body.

"HEY EUN-BYEOL-" Jang Wu-Jin's apprehensive voice was put to an abrupt end when a leather heel crushed the screen of Moon Eun-Byeol's phone. Lee Byeong-Chan wriggled his foot in hopes that it would destroy the device entirely.

A deeper frown engraved his slate grey, pale blue lips.

The phantom appearance on Lee Byeong-Chan's face only increased when he locked the husky grey door shut. Eyeing both of his students that were imprisoned, one due to recklessness and the other from truth, a lightening bolt of graveness flashed through his eyes.

I'm sorry. Hyun-Joo wanted to say.

She could say a lot more, but I'm sorry seemed to summarise everything. Hyun-Joo could say I'm sorry for: being jealous. Being jealous, over how Moon Eun-Byeol got to have dinner with her own mother, every day after school. Being jealous, over Moon Eun-Byeol for being able to express herself musically, and she couldn't. Being jealous, over the fact that, after Jeong Areum released her first album, Moon Eun-Byeol received a high level of popularity at school. Being jealous, over the amount of friends that Moon Eun-Byeol had . . . and eventually, Hyun-Joo felt as though she had lost her only companion.

With all her envy compiled together, she started acting upon it. Hyun-Joo began to play a villain, but the thing is, she was blinded by her own jealousy to even notice it. She did all sorts of foul actions towards her former friend. Hyun-Joo placed crickets inside of Eun-Byeol's lunch box, worms inside of her drink, poured trash over her head in the bathrooms . . .

After a while, she found herself doing it to get Moon Eun-Byeol's attention. To be the owner of Moon Eun-Byeol's attention, and steal the limelight away from the Moon girl's new found friends.

But then- it all stopped as soon as they entered Hyosan High School.

She stopped trying to contact Moon Eun-Byeol, and found another group that appreciated her violence wholeheartedly.

"Eun-Byeol," the former friend tried breaking her muffled voice through the thick, raven black tape, that felt like it was superglued across her mouth. "-I'm . . . sorry." The mere words were only loud enough for her own ears, which felt like they had puddles of mahogany red blood trickling from them.

Through her hazy, red vision, a vision that looked like the walls were painted with train tracks of blood vessels, Hyun-Joo tried steadying her eyes on the Moon girl. But, it was arduous since her bones were convulsing in sharp minutes, as if they were trying to grow into a different form. Her maroon eyes took in Moon Eun-Byeol's tawny hair, that was caught under the dim electric blue LED lights.

Hyun-Joo couldn't quite make out every feature of Eun-Byeol's face, but all the while, she felt selfish for feeling grateful that the situation landed them both together.

She'd missed the days where they'd clean the entire snack aisle of the convenience store together, when they'd talk under the balmy sun on a set of swings at the park. Hyun-Joo missed the much simpler days, because days spent with Moon Eun-Byeol felt like an endless summer- and Hyun-Joo hated herself for letting her own envy destroy it all.

A surge of something unfamiliar masked those bittersweet thoughts, and instead, the scarlet blood from her nostrils began to trickle downwards again. A scarring noise ripped through her throat, her eyes dilating as her stomach burned from a ravenous feeling.

"Why do I feel . . . so hungry?"

"- Are you . . . are you okay?" Moon Eun-Byeol tried clearing her slurred voice, "you don't look okay from what I saw."

Lolling her heavy head to the side, Moon Eun-Byeol's neck felt as though it was going to cave in from the weight of both her mind and skull. A tremor, within both her palms, occurred as soon as she pulled them away from the back of her head. The tips of her fingers were coated carmine red, and her own tears mixed in with it, as she slowly faced her foe.

"I feel so hungry." Hyun-Joo began, faintly.

"- We need to get out of here, I'll make sure of it . . . When we do, I'll make sure he doesn't do this to anymore of us or even his family . . ." Moon Eun-Byeol's voice trailed away towards the end, her chin settling on her left shoulder as her neck slumped tinily from a weighty amount of fatigue.

The substance that was injected into Moon Eun-Byeol, impelled her to fall into an impermanent slumber, preventing her from doing anything.

Lee Byeong-Chan lingered in front of the door for a few more moments, growing agitated with the situation.

He detested how absent minded he was over the dangers of having Moon Eun-Byeol within his classroom- look at where it landed them. Lee Byeong-Chan had to sacrifice his own student, since she found out the truth.

Zeus feared Nyx. Not only was she wiser, but she was omnipotent. Her power seared all. Zeus, was occupied with creating storms: hazardous lightening, thunderous rain and barbaric winds. But none of that could compare with Nyx's power.

Lee Byeong-Chan seldom feared anything. But he instantly developed a new fear, his student that found out about his secrets- the bearer of his truth: Moon Eun-Byeol. If word goes out that there's a living corpse within the school . . . it would wreak havoc across the entirety of Hyosan.

It was a battle between the Goddess of the Night and the God of the Sky. Could the strength of the darkness overpower the abilities of the ether?

DEAR ALL,

I adore writing intensity so much- I
am so sorry I took ages to update,
but at you can see, my 6K+ words
chapter and I sincerely apologise-
I was busy trying to perfect it and
writing it . . . plus trying to keep on
top of college hehe.

I am super excited to write more of
this, since it'll be angsty and so thrilling-
I hope you like my characters as much
as I do [:

ALSO THANK YOU FOR ALMOST
2K LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH, you
guys motivate me so much <3

I hope today treats you well my lovelies
>~<

WITH LOVE, SYLVIA